page_title: Corruption in Haiti
section_title: Préval presidency (1996–2001, 2006–11)
hierarchical_section_title: Corruption in Haiti / History / Préval presidency (1996–2001, 2006–11)
caption_attribution_description: English: President of Haiti, René Préval, at the "International Donors' Conference towards a New Future for Haiti"
context_page_description: Corruption in Haiti is a scourge that corrodes all attempts to establish a rule of law, a sustainable democracy, and to improve the quality of life of Haiti's people.
  Haiti's corruption perception index is 25.44
  Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 157th place out of 180 countries.
context_section_description: When Rene Préval became president for a second time, in 2006, he inherited a political crisis, with a small elite controlling the nation's wealth. In 2006, Haiti was at the very bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Preval promised a fight on poverty and his Prime Minister, Jacques Édouard Alexis, said the government would implement "draconian" measures to combat corruption. To aid in this front, Préval named Judge Claudy Gassant as Government Commissioner in August 2006.
  In May 2007, Préval deemed anyone implicated in corruption as enemies of the state. There was great hope that Gassant, who had an impressive reputation for integrity, would make a difference. Instead his efforts proved a disappointment and ultimately he resigned in August 2008 and went to the Dominican Republic. Préval's presidency, in the end, was marked by an increase in violence and corruption. The Preval/Alexis government went on to undermine anti-corruption efforts by the interim Gérard Latortue presidency of 2005, withdrawing charges against Aristide and releasing several imprisoned Aristide associates who had been incarcerated for corruption.
  In 2007, the Heritage Foundation publicly asked the Senate to explain why several members had voted for a resolution that benefited a bank called SOCABANK. Allegedly, the senators had received bribes, but nothing was done about the charges.
  The year 2008 has been called Haiti's "annus horribilis for corruption." In 2008, Haiti was 177th of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
  In September 2008, a Senator disclosed that there was an investigation into the Prime Minister's office of alleged forgery. The investigation uncovered connections between applicants to government positions and payments made to the Prime Minister's office, as well as others in power. But the investigation did not lead to any action. Also in September 2008, it was revealed that the signatures of relevant authorities had been faked in an ONA request for $30,000 in project funding for what turned out to be a fictitious organization. No action was taken. In December 2008, Senator Joseph Lambert was linked to the murder of a Police Commissioner's wife in a case involving drug traffickers, but he was never charged.
  In 2008, a Police Chaplains International revealed that members of the judiciary and police force were divvying up embezzled funds in Port-de-Paix.
caption: President Préval at the Conference towards a New Future for Haiti in 2010
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Opening session of the International Donors' Conference towards a \"New Future for Haiti\".", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2010:03:31 11:56:12", "Image Artist": "UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "504", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1292", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1406", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4390", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2500", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:03:31 08:33:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:03:31 08:33:46", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTime": "33", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "33", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "33", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3836", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2584", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1260", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "144000/41", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/23", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}